1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a litter box and more particularly to a portable pet waste disposal station.
2. Description of the Related Art
While pets have long proven worthwhile to many people, pets come at a cost. Aside from food and medical concerns, pets generally evacuate several times each day. By evacuation, it is meant that pets both urinate and defecate. Notably, evacuation merely represents an exercise in impulse for many pets, most are able to be trained so as to evacuate only at certain times and in certain places. Classically, dogs have been trained to evacuate outside at selected times of the day, and cats have been trained to evacuate indoors using a litter box. Interestingly, even less typical pets such as ferrets, rabbits, possums, and such have been trained to utilize a litter box when the need for evacuation arises.
Generally, a litter box consists of an impermeable container filled with absorbent material such as litter, newspaper and such which can absorb urine and which can be disposed of handily. Litter, in particular, has experienced advances in composition over the past two decades and now can serve the function of both an absorbent material and an odor-fighting material. More sophisticated litter boxes have been proposed including ones having a permanent mesh screen for separating urine and fecal matter, but cleaning the mesh screen can be a messy and uncomfortable proposition for pet owners. Even with the advances in litter and litter boxes, it is still possible to track litter from a litter box.
Commercially distributed litter boxes mostly address the requirements of cat and other small pet owners. To that end, owners of large pets, including medium and large breed dogs, have been unable to recognize the conveniences associated with litter box type technologies. Rather, it is presumed that large pet owners are to always “turn out” their dogs when necessary, including in the midst of a thunderstorm, in the middle of the night, or even when a suitable outside is not readily available, such as in the case of a high-rise apartment complex or hotel.
In addition to litter boxes, animal owners have also used puppy pads (or wee pads) to capture pet waste, though puppy pads generally only capture urine. Puppy pads can also be dragged throughout a house by an animal resulting in the further spreading of pet waste. In addition, after a pet uses a puppy pad, the animal's paws can be wet from the urine, allowing the urine to be tracked throughout the house. After each use a puppy pad has to be picked-up by the owner, carried to a trash can, and thrown away forcing the pet owner to come in contact with the pet waste, and thus, increasing the chances of the pet owner being exposed to illness. In addition, the pet owner may further contaminate his or her environment when disposing of the puppy pad. Also, the puppy pad must be thrown away after each use creating trash that adds to a community's trash dump.